


Emily, Elizabeth, and Clifford

by dinosaurdragon



Series: Missing Moments from TWotS [15]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Exposition, Meeting, Prologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 23:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14704662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaurdragon/pseuds/dinosaurdragon
Summary: Emily and Elizabeth Cadash meet with their mother for a new job.





	Emily, Elizabeth, and Clifford

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i really did choose these names. i make a lot of references, even when they don't necessarily make sense. i can't help myself and don't want to stop.

“Emily, Elizabeth, good.” Lady Cadash (not a land-holding noble lady; Lady was her name) looked at her daughters as they stood in front of her desk. They were only recently back from a job, and normally she’d not send them back out so quickly, but the letter in her pocket had politely demanded otherwise.

“What’s the matter, Mother?” Emily asked. “I was about to go to town.”

Lady shook her head, setting her hands upon the desk. “Nothing’s the matter, hopefully. I received a letter. Two, really. From Varric Tethras and, apparently, a friend of his.”

Emily and Elizabeth glanced at each other. They knew Varric by reputation, of course. Every topside dwarf did—and many of the ones in Orzammar, too, if their intel was correct. But they’d never had any direct contact with him. They weren’t that important in the Cadash branch yet. Even Lady hadn’t had more than a passing hello during some Merchant’s Guild thing.

“What does he want?” Emily crossed her arms, one finger beginning to tap out a rhythm; Elizabeth slipped her hands into her pockets.

“Tethras himself doesn’t seem to want anything, but his friend—some sodding elf name that’s impossible to pronounce—he wants something.” Lady half-shrugged. “Didn’t say what, just asked that you two meet him in Highever at the full moons.”

Elizabeth scrunched her nose. “And why should we? This is more than a little strange, Mother.”

“Yeah, well, it happens that I owe Tethras something, and he’s calling in the favor. Not a big enough favor to make me suspicious, mind you,” Lady said, watching Emily’s eyes sharpen and narrow at her words. “Just enough to play along.”

“What about running for those rebel mages?” Elizabeth asked. “You know Gilbert’s hardly competent enough.”

Lady smirked. She was right, of course. The girls had always been smarter, better, faster than their cousins. It was a source of envy from the half of the Cadash family that wasn’t grateful. “Tethras is smart enough to know we’re not just going to give up the family business. Whatever this Keeper wants, it can’t interfere too much.”

“So you want us to meet with him? Do we even know who he is?” Unspoken, but heard all the same: could it be a trap? It wouldn’t be the first.

“You recall the Fifth Blight,” Lady answered, “if it was even a real Blight.”

“Gertrude swears she saw the Archdemon in Denerim,” Emily said, all her fingers tapping now.

“Gertrude also swears she saw a mermaid in Lake Calenhad. Fuck Gertrude.” Lady waved off the idea. Her daughters offered no further protest. “This Keeper fought with the Grey Wardens. Rumor said he was one of ‘em, but if that were true, he’d be at Vigil’s Keep with the rest of that lot.”

Emily hummed. “Didn’t the Hero of Ferelden leave? And the Fereldan King and Queen, I heard they were Wardens, too.”

With a scoff, Lady leaned back. “That Hero probably went off to get fat somewhere, and I don’t for a second believe those Fereldans would let not just one but _two_ Wardens take the throne. Thrones. Whichever. They’re too stubborn for that, and we all know they only like the Grey Wardens now because they believe the Wardens stopped a Blight.”

It was true enough. Emily glanced at Elizabeth, who shrugged. “We’ll head out at first light tomorrow. Shouldn’t be gone more than two weeks, I think. Want us to drop anything off along the way?”

Lady hummed, one hand reaching into the pocket where the letter sat. “Be prepared for a longer journey. Something tells me this Keeper wants more than simple information or lyrium, and I’m curious. Be friendly, let him think you’re on his side. Send reports back to me. I’ll let you know if I need you back.”

Emily and Elizabeth both stood straighter at that unusual proclamation, Emily’s fingers going still. These were strange times, to be sure, but Lady seemed to have something up her sleeve. “You think he’s important?”

“Not sure. And maybe he’s not, but he sure seems to know a lot of people who are. We can use that.”

They shared a look. “I’m taking Clifford,” Emily declared.

“Good,” Lady said. “Dismissed.”

**Author's Note:**

> emily, elizabeth, and clifford will show up next chapter in twots! hope you like them!


End file.
